1. Field of the Invention
Slot players continue to demand more interaction. Dwindling are the days in which players are captivated upon inserting one to three coins, pulling the handle, and waiting to see the outcome of the spin. Today's slot players want more to do in the form of player choices as part of the game play. These choices are now designed into the play of state-of-the-art slot machines.
Too, today's slot players have shown an affinity for so-called bonus games, or games within a game. A typical bonus game provides a break from the traditional reel-spinning base-game portion of the wagering experience. Once in the bonus game, the player is treated to an experience in which no additional wager is required, and yet the player is generally assured of winning an award. Too, the bonus game typically “plays” quite differently than the base game. For example, it may involve the player choosing from among several objects (WMS Filthy Rich, Atronic Sphinx, IGT Little Green Men, etc.), a game of strategy (Mikohn Yahtzee, Mikohn Battleship), spinning a physical wheel located in the top-box (Anchor Wheel of Gold, IGT Wheel of Fortune), dropping a ball through a Pachinko forest (Mikohn Boingo), or other possibilities (Anchor Pinball, Barcrest Run for the Money, etc.).
A bonus game is generally initiated via a special combination of so-called trigger symbols within the base game. To date, initiation within the base game has been done in one of two ways: via line combination or scattered combination.
A line consists of multiple symbols appearing on the same payline. The symbols may appear left-to-right, right-to-left, or anywhere on the line. Consider a 5 reel game with 3 reel positions shown on each of the reels, and 9 paylines. An example of a line combination triggering the bonus game is that three trigger symbols may be required to appear left-to-right and adjacent starting with the leftmost reel. Once the three triggers are aligned in such a fashion on an active payline, the bonus game is initiated. An example is shown in FIG. 1.
On the other hand, a scattered combination is also called an “appearing anywhere” combination. Generally, three or more symbols appearing anywhere are utilized. An example of this is shown in FIG. 2.
The prior equipment does not deviate from the above in terms of qualifying the player to play a bonus game. Some games, after the player has qualified, make use of the trigger symbols. For example, in IGT's Catch a Wave slot machine, aligning three trigger symbols in a scatter formation qualifies the player for the bonus. The bonus consists of allowing the player to select one of the trigger symbols, which in turn randomly reveals a numerical award. As another example, in WMS's Monopoly Money Grab, aligning three trigger symbols on an active payline qualifies the player for the bonus. The player is prompted to choose one of the trigger symbols, which in turn randomly reveals the type of bonus that will occur. The screen then changes, and the type of bonus chosen is played. Alternately, (e.g., Silicon Gaming game show type of game) there exists a format in which once the player has qualified for the bonus game (via one or more trigger symbols in the proper locations), an intermediate screen randomly selects the type of bonus that will occur. The screen then changes, and the type of bonus randomly selected is played.
What is in common with all of the above approaches is that the player qualifies for the bonus game in one step from the base game. While at first thought this might appear appealing, it has several difficulties.
A first difficulty is that, given the frequency of many bonus games (occurring perhaps every 80–120 spins on average), many players will suffer through long drought periods in between bonus games. Because a major goal of most players is to achieve the bonus game, a long period of wagering between bonus games serves to discourage the player. Too, since the typical base game is simply a “wager and wait” affair, the player missing out on the bonus game is also missing out on player interaction and missing out leads to additional discouragement.
The second difficulty is that it is desirable to have the player occasionally (with more trigger symbols) play a bonus game of more value. For example, a bonus game in which the player qualified with 4 trigger symbols might be worth 3 times as much as a bonus game in which the player qualified with 3 trigger symbols, and so forth. Having the same bonus worth potentially different amounts (for example, depending on the number of initiating trigger symbols) helps hold a player's interest. However, practically speaking (because the trigger symbols also occupy space on the reels), the relative probability of the player entering the bonus game with 4 (or 5) triggers drops exponentially from that of 3 triggers.
The method and apparatus described herein solves these problems by using a two step or two stage method of bonus qualification. The first step or first stage occurs at a much greater frequency than a one step or one stage bonus qualification. Therefore he does not suffer through the long period of wagers before potentially qualifying, and this keeps the player's interest in the game high. The second stage provides the player with the opportunity to provide player input, and possibly enter into a bonus event. Through appropriate selection of frequencies of each stage, a game may be designed with a much higher payoff potential, for a given number of trigger symbols, than can be achieved in a one step or one stage bonus event.
It is an advantage of the instant method and apparatus that players enjoy more interaction.
It is a further advantage of the instant method and apparatus that players are less likely to perceive long periods of drought between visits to a bonus game.
It is a further advantage of the instant method and apparatus that the desired frequencies of visits to the bonus game may be precisely controlled without having to clutter the reels with many of a bonus triggering symbols.
It is a further advantage of the instant method and apparatus that the desired relative frequencies of relative values of the bonus game may be precisely controlled.
It is a further advantage of the instant method and apparatus that different types of bonus games can be initiated from a common set of triggering symbols; hence the reels need not be cluttered with many different types of bonus triggering symbols.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 AND 1.98
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